DeKalb County has declared a local state of emergency as crews restore power to 60,000 people and clear dozens of down trees after being hit by Tropical Storm Irma.
The county announced Wednesday that DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond had signed state of emergency the night before.
President Donald Trump had already OKed federal funding for Georgia ahead of the storm, but DeKalb's declaration is essentially the county saying that it does want to receive such federal funds and assistance.
Susan V. Loeffler, head of DeKalb’s emergency management services, said she waited to ask for the money and help until it became clear the clean-up was beyond their capabilities.
At its worst, the storm knocked out power to 170,000 DeKalb homes, which amounts to 54 percent, the county said. About 62,000 residents were still without power as of 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Loeffler said she predicted residents would be in the dark between four and six days.
“And I’m not sure anybody believed me,” she said on day three of no power for some residents.
When asked if that timeline holds, she said: “It’s still possible because we have a lot of trees down.”
The county said it is waiting on Georgia Power to clear 100 down trees across DeKalb. Crews have removed more than 38 tons of trees and debris since the storm hit.
Elsewhere in the state: Aerial photos show Irma's impact on coastal Georgia
“We have been up to our eyeballs with Georgia Power and other issues,” Loeffler said.
With the local decleration signed, chainsaw crews from either the state of federal govenment showed up Wednesday morning to help clear off the roads.
She said it remains unclear what level of federal assistance DeKalb will get, but “we really don’t care when we find out,” she said, “ … we’re having everything ready to go.”
What that entails is documenting all of the expenses the county has had to bare because of the storm. That means overtime, use of equipment and there’s even a formula that will pay the county for every cubic yard of debris cleared.
Residents can report a downed tree in a road or county right-of-way by calling 404-294-2911.
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